“Catch that bastard—!”

“Don’t let him get away!”

While Kim Muhyuk thrashed around underwater and stirred up chaos,

Han Jaechun quietly approached the Black Heaven Society speedboat.

He stuck a suction device—something like a giant suction cup—onto the hull, then clung to the boat like a cicada and waited for his moment.

“Coast Guard—!”

After the Coast Guard and the Martial Alliance appeared, and the Black Heaven Society speedboat kicked into full speed by unfolding spellcraft to break out of the encirclement—

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAANG—!

Even when Choi Geon fired off terrifying blade aura and the speedboat’s hull rocked so hard it looked ready to flip—

“Ghk...!”

Han Jaechun gritted his teeth and hung on, enduring as he waited.

‘Not yet.’

There were several Black Heaven Society martial artists on the speedboat.

Han Jaechun knew that with his current skill, he couldn’t beat even one of them.

So he waited—replaying the conversation he’d had with Kim Muhyuk.

Han, you’re only barely at the level where you can be called third-rate. Don’t even dream about fighting Black Heaven Society head-on.

It was such an obvious fact he didn’t even feel like arguing.

If anything, Han Jaechun worried he’d become a burden to Kim Muhyuk.

...Is there even anything I can do?

Then Kim Muhyuk had grinned and said that just because your martial arts were weak didn’t mean there was nothing you could do.

Drifters were martial artists too—but their world wasn’t the same as the usual martial world.

There’s no weak drifter hero. But there aren’t many standout top masters either. Instead, each one has a clear specialty.

How do you know that in such detail? It’s like you’ve met drifter heroes yourself....

...Well. It’s all stuff I heard through rumors.

Kim Muhyuk brushed it off, but his face had looked strangely lonely.

Anyway, I’m going to explain the operation. Listen carefully.

Even before he became a drifter, Han Jaechun had done all kinds of work to make money. He was quick to read situations and good at improvising.

He also had a strong memory—and patience.

Kim Muhyuk assigned him a role that fit him perfectly.

Your mission is to infiltrate the speedboat and find evidence connected to the smuggling. I’ll create the opening. Stick to the boat, and when you think it’s time, go in.

No signal?

You’ll have to read it and move. You never know what variables will happen on site.

Read it and move.

For a moment, Kim Muhyuk overlapped with the kind of boss who demanded a result that was simple, flashy, and safely high-end—all at once. But Han Jaechun nodded and said he’d do it.

“KRAAAH!”

“Watch out for the aura leaking out of that sword!”

And when a melee erupted on deck and everyone’s attention locked onto Kim Muhyuk,

Han Jaechun realized it was time for him to move.

‘Now!’

He climbed up in the opposite direction from where the screams and shouts were coming from.

Luck followed.

The red, fog-like aura flowing from Phantom Dream concealed him at first glance, and the fact that his qi presence was faint—because his martial arts were weak—actually helped.

Inside the speedboat were crew members who hadn’t learned martial arts, and in the chaos of the fight, the Black Heaven Society martial artists couldn’t distinguish Han Jaechun from the crew.

‘Straight inside.’

He caught a glimpse of Kim Muhyuk fighting—soaked in blood.

Part of him wanted to fight alongside him, but it was obvious he’d only get in the way. Han Jaechun repeated his mission to himself and headed into the boat.

“Who...?”

The moment a crewman he ran into made a puzzled face—

SMACK!

A steel-chunk fist—the same kind that had ruined Han Jaechun’s life back in high school—hammered into the man’s temple.

The Black Heaven Society martial artists had all gone out onto the deck to fight.

Inside, only crew members remained—people who hadn’t learned martial arts.

“You know what happens if you scream, even if I don’t say it, right?”

Han Jaechun grabbed the crewman by the collar as he started to crumple and threatened him in a low voice.

“P-Please... spare me....”

As the crewman nodded like crazy, Han Jaechun squeezed out what he needed.

“Where do the Black Heaven Society bastards stay?”

“Th-There isn’t a separate room, b-but—back there, behind the engine room... the bed....”

After extracting a few details, Han Jaechun knocked the crewman out, then searched the engine room and the surrounding area.

At the same time, the tiny action cam attached to his body filmed every inch of the interior.

Video proof that the speedboat belonged to the Black Heaven Society.

“...Found it.”

Han Jaechun discovered a smuggling ledger under the bed and tucked it carefully inside his clothes.

It was undeniable evidence—clients, items, contact information, all of it.

‘This is enough.’ 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Han Jaechun immediately moved to the bridge.

Kim Muhyuk had only ordered him to collect evidence—but Han Jaechun made his own call about what came next.

“What the hell—who are you?!”

Bursting into the bridge, Han Jaechun clashed with the captain, whose face looked vicious.

Unlike the other crew, the captain had learned a little martial arts—but Han Jaechun pressed them one-sidedly by using the advantage of surprise.

After trading blows, Han Jaechun dropped the captain and succeeded in taking control of the bridge.

Then he threw a dagger and subdued the machine gunner as well.

“GHHK— ....”

Han Jaechun cut the engine and sucked in air that had climbed up to his throat.

“Huff... huff....”

His heart felt like it might burst.

It wasn’t comparable to Kim Muhyuk, who had cut down more than a dozen men on deck and been drenched in enemy blood, but...

“...I did it.”

Muttering to himself, Han Jaechun waved hard at Kim Muhyuk, who was looking his way.

Kim Muhyuk grinned and lifted a thumb in return.

In that moment, a sharp thrill ran down Han Jaechun’s spine.

Without realizing it, he clenched his fist tight.

‘Me too, now...!’

It felt like he’d finally become a real drifter.

And the desire to keep succeeding on missions like today—to be recognized—swelled even bigger inside him.

*****

The speedboat, its engine dead, drifted on the pitch-black sea.

The Black Heaven Society martial artists were all down except for Lee Taehyun—and at any moment, the old man who could split a boat in half with one strike might come chasing them.

“Heh... heh heh heh....”

None of this felt real to Lee Taehyun. That was why laughter spilled out like they’d gone insane.

“Just one rat—no, two—and the whole job gets wrecked this badly.”

As they shook their head and looked back and forth between Kim Muhyuk and Han Jaechun, thick killing intent clung to their gaze.

The Black Heaven Society wouldn’t forgive them.

With a failure this big, even a mid-level handler would have to be prepared to hand over an arm.

Naturally, their position would be stripped as well.

FRRRA-RA-RA-RAK—!

Lee Taehyun’s sleeves fluttered wildly.

Inside, the bracelets on their wrists began to pulse on their own.

Every single one was a spellcraft tool.

“If I bring back your heads, maybe I can beg the society leader for a chance.”

The pressure a pinnacle expert released with intent made Han Jaechun stagger like he might topple.

His breath jammed in his throat like he was being strangled.

“Ghh...!”

The confidence that had filled him shattered in an instant, and his whole body started trembling.

He wanted to hide somewhere—run—right now.

But Han Jaechun forced his eyes wide and clenched his teeth.

Then, with a mouth that even Kim Muhyuk hadn’t expected, he provoked them.

“If we’re rats, you’re a cockroach! A trash bastard who only harms the world—who are you calling a rat?! I’ll rip your damn mouth open!”

“...What?”

“We’re heroic swordsmen who did what’s right, you stinking unorthodox-faction spawn—!”

Like some switch had flipped, filthy, relentless curses poured out of Han Jaechun’s mouth.

“Hah. Fine. I’ll clear you first.”

Lee Taehyun’s expression turned even colder.

They swung their sword—about to fire blade aura at Han Jaechun—

KKAANG!

Phantom Dream stopped Lee Taehyun’s blade.

Kim Muhyuk, blade-to-blade with them, crooked one corner of his mouth upward.

“Why are you getting angry? I don’t hear a single wrong word in it.”

“You insolent—!”

While Han Jaechun bought time, I recovered at least a little stamina.

‘Good work.’

I flashed Han Jaechun a grin, shoved Lee Taehyun back hard with my sword, and spoke.

“The wind’s nice, nobody’s in the way now—how about we take our time and enjoy the night sea together?”

“...I’ll kill you!”

With the roar, the spellcraft tools—those bracelets on Lee Taehyun—shook and rang as they moved.

CLINK-CLINK-CLINK.

Lee Taehyun, a mid-level handler of the Black Heaven Society, was both a pinnacle expert and a spellcaster.

Compared to martial arts, their talent for spellcraft—something they discovered late—wasn’t that great.

But even a little talent meant special treatment inside the Black Heaven Society.

Because with expensive spellcraft tools and enough materials, a pinnacle expert could wield spellcraft too.

“Ghost Wail!”

A bound ghost burst from one bracelet and unleashed a shriek so sharp it felt like it could tear you open.

KYYAAAAAAH—!

At that spine-crawling sound, Han Jaechun clamped both hands over his ears and dropped to the deck.

A trump spellcraft they hadn’t been able to use freely while subordinates were around, because it didn’t distinguish friend from foe.

It was the kind of attack that shattered not just hearing, but the mind—so even masters couldn’t help but reveal openings.

‘I’ll start by gouging out those savage-looking eyeballs.’

Lee Taehyun grinned as they pictured the future that was about to come true.

But unlike what they expected, I wasn’t affected by the spellcraft at all.

All I did was frown once, as if it annoyed me.

‘Why?’

They didn’t even have time to be flustered.

In a blink, my sword was in front of them, aimed at their throat.

JJEO-JEO-JEO-JEONG!

The blades collided and sparks scattered.

Every time the tangled trajectories grazed each other, the night sky tinted red—because blood was spraying from both of us.

“Ghk...!”

The pain of skin being cut—something they hadn’t felt in a long time—twisted Lee Taehyun’s face.

Meanwhile, even though I already had far more wounds, my eyes shone with lively light.

I’d finally met someone worth properly fighting, and I was excited.

“Grrk! Illusion! Shift! Dark!”

The first spell hadn’t worked, but Lee Taehyun unleashed spellcraft in rapid succession.

A spell that mixed illusions into the sword.

A spell that shifted their position by a single step.

A spell that darkened the opponent’s vision.

They created variables, then stabbed an unsettled opponent to end it cleanly.

That “sure-win” pattern was what had made them a handler in the Black Heaven Society.

‘There’s no way it won’t work. This brat’s only been lucky a few times. This time, I’ll—!’

At that moment, I stopped attacking for a beat, clicked my tongue, and said,

“Why do you keep pulling cheap tricks? You’d be better off spending that time focusing on your sword.”

“Shut up—!”

CLINK-CLINK-CLINK!

The bracelets on their wrists rang nonstop, shaking like they’d gone mad.

Spellcraft that had let Lee Taehyun kill even masters who were a step above them poured out.

But none of it worked on me.

If anything, the longer it went on, the easier it got to block.

SHHK!

I split an incoming fireball clean in two and looked at Lee Taehyun with a bored expression.

“I expected more because you’re a pinnacle expert... but your swordsmanship is worse than a first-rate master’s. No—did you regress because you lean on spellcraft?”

“You insolent little punk—!”

Watching them lose their mind and abuse spellcraft, my interest drained away.

‘If the spellcraft were truly good, maybe. But both are half-baked.’

I’d sparred with Kim Bokja too many times to count.

I could see their whole routine from the start.

And on top of that, my spirit sight was open—so to second-rate spellcasters, I was basically their natural enemy.

More than anything—

CLINK-CLINK-CLINK-CLINK!

So noisy, so much yapping....

Even if you added up every spellcraft tool Lee Taehyun had, they couldn’t even be compared to Phantom Dream, a sacred weapon.

Shut up. All of you.

At Phantom Dream’s irritated shout, every spellcraft tool Lee Taehyun carried shattered—and the backlash slammed into the spellcaster too.

“GHHK— ....”

Lee Taehyun vomited blood and stumbled backward.

I didn’t let the opening go.

It would’ve been better to settle it cleanly with the sword to the end, but the one who started relying on spellcraft first was them.

“If you’d fought with only your sword, you might’ve actually had a chance.”

I knocked the sword out of the staggering opponent’s hand.

Then I stared at Lee Taehyun with a blank face.

“It was more boring than I expected.”

“You... y-you... you son of—!”

THUNK!

It was the moment the Black Heaven Society’s smuggling handler—an officer-class pinnacle expert among the Five Great Unorthodox Sects—collapsed to their knees, absurdly easily.